While Clarence Thomas is likely to get away with a wrist slap, if that, the feds are hardly going easy on Hal Neilson. Here is how Mississippi lawyer Clarence Guthrie, on his blog, describes the issues Neilson faces:
Under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, it is a crime to:
1. knowingly and willfully;
2. make any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation;
3. in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the United States.
This was the charge that Martha Stewart served time for. It is a crime to tell a lie to the federal government. Even if your lie is oral and not under oath, and even if you have received no Miranda warnings of any kind. You must know that your statement is false at the time you make it, but you do not have to know that lying to the government is a crime. Any person convicted under this statute faces statutory penalties of a possible fine, and up to 5-8 years in prison.
How did Hal Neilson wind up stuck in this brier patch? What did he do that makes the feds want to send him to prison for up to a quarter century? Here is how Clarence Guthrie describes it in a post dated January 15, 2011:
An FBI Agent in Oxford, Mississippi was indicted this week for making false official statements to a federal official, among other things. The agent was the Supervisory Agent in Charge of the FBI's Oxford Resident Agency, and the indictment charges that he failed to disclose that he had a financial interest in the Oxford FBI Building since 2004, and that he was not truthful on his Confidential Financial Disclosure Report that FBI Agents are required to fill out. Finally, it is alleged that he knowingly and willfully made, and caused to be made, a materially false and fraudulent statement and representation to an agent of the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, during an interview. This is a big case, and if you happen to be reading this while doing research for your term paper on irony, it's the best example I've ever seen.
Guthrie wrote those words about irony before the Clarence Thomas story broke over this past weekend. Wonder how much irony Guthrie sees in all of this now.
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